Trump signs order preventing future presidents from changing Oval Office

US President Donald Trump has signed an executive order that he notes will prevent future presidents from making certain changes to the White House Oval Office.

Key points

• Congress has carved out an exemption to the National Historic Preservation Act, so as to allow presidents to create needed changes.
• American presidents at present have the power to produce some changes to the White House but sizeable projects require the permission of Congress.
• We like the Oval Office, and it's a symbol like the White House itself.
• Thursday's executive order declares the Oval Office to be a national monument, along with some of its surrounding rooms.
• Trump's proclamation notes the existing protection, but notes "nonetheless, the Oval Office merits specific recognition and protective management as a discrete historic structure of national significance".

Trump, a former real estate mogul, has altered the president's official office during his second term, most notably by adding plenty of gold features to its walls.

"So we're making it a national monument, and it will not be allowed to be touched by anybody, destroyed, ripped down by stupid people, in order to build something in a slightly different shape, " Trump remarked to journalists on Thursday.

In practice, the document additionally states that it does not "restrict the President's authority to redecorate the monument, select furnishings, or make ordinary operational and security modifications that do not substantially impair the monument's historic structure or architectural character".

"We like the Oval Office, and it's a symbol like the White House itself. It's a symbol of our country and the greatness of our country, " Trump remarked. How Trump is remaking the White House in his own image.

Meanwhile, the president has the power to create national monuments. It are similar to national parks.

Trump's order calls on the office to be maintained by the National Park Service "in a manner that protects its historic character, architectural integrity, and association with the Presidency".

Notably, the entire building is already designated as a National Historic Landmark. It is intended to prevent against sudden changes to the building.

Congress has carved out an exemption to the National Historic Preservation Act, so as to allow presidents to create needed changes. After its conception by President Franklin D Roosevelt, the current Oval Office has existed since the early 1930s.

Greg Werkheiser, from the law firm Cultural Heritage Partners. It specialises in historic preservation, notes that temporary alterations like "furniture and decor is completely up to the president's discretion".

"As long as they're not damaging the permanent art and architecture, they can generally do whatever they want, " he tells BBC News.

Werkheiser argues that the Trump administration has shown extreme disregard for other historic sites in Washington, and through lawsuits has attempted to undermine the laws that require preservation.

Trump has undertaken a massive beautification project in Washington and has held three events previously week to boast of the construction, even as his Republican party was trounced by Democrats in the midterm elections.

"The hypocrisy is that on the one hand he's talking about the importance of preserving the Oval Office – which is legally meaningless because he can't do it – and on the other hand he is absolutely taking an axe to the law that allows us to preserve other historic sites."

Werkheiser notes Trump's efforts to renovate the Kennedy Center in Washington DC, to build a new triumphal arch in the city, and to paint the granite exterior of the historic executive office building. His firm has filed lawsuits to block two of the projects.

In October, the president suggested in an interview with Time, external magazine that the Oval Office would need to be torn down due to security reservations from the US Secret Service.

"I remarked, 'My ass, you can't build a new one. This is a special place, '" Trump remarked at the time.

During the midterm election campaign Democrats criticised Trump's redesigns, with former President Barack Obama saying that his golden tweaks have "got the White House looking like Saddam Hussein opened a Cheesecake Factory".

For now, trump signs order preventing future presidents from changing Oval Office remains the part of the story worth watching, and further updates are likely as more details are confirmed.